Ballad of Thaddeus Stevens

[@seasidepk]

I visited you in the square in Gettysburg on Sunday. You put me on to this song. Thanks, Paul... well done!

[@frisco21]

The man in the thumbnail was Edwin Stanton, not Thaddeus Stevens.

[@thomasjamison2050]

Andrew Jackson hated the Bank of the United States which was run by a wealthy Philadelphia banker by the name of Biddle. When the Charter of the Bank of the United States came up for renewal, Congress renewed it, but Jackson never signed the bill. He just stuck it in his pocket and let it die as a 'pocket veto." Biddle's now unnamed bank still had money and potential customers, so Biddle went to the government of the State of PA to get a banking Charter for his Philadelphia Bank. Thaddeus Stevens was then the Chairman of the PA House Ways and Means Committee and so had control over the Charter Application. Stevens told Biddle that there would be no charter for his bank unless the bank agreed to fund universal public education in the state of PA. Biddle, stuck with no reasonable alternatives, agreed, and to this day one can wander through the state and every now and then run into small one room school houses that were built because of this. Contrast that with the way Obama handled the banking crisis of 2008.

[@maryroeder2916]

Very good. Really enjoyed it.

[@davidbotson205]

Very good Paul

[@thadstone7877]

Wow

[@williamshade6476]

Very nice story about a great American.